Property deal will lead to more jobs

The redevelopment of Rotherham’s disused civic site by developer TCN UK will lead to the opening of a Tesco superstore just before Christmas.

Stephen Holme, development director of TCN UK told The Yorkshire Post, “We worked very hard, it was a very complicated scheme because you’ve got all the utilities running through the site. (There were) massive road infrastructure changes, (with) new junctions put in.”

Effingham Square, which stands opposite the new Tesco, has been repaved. The town’s historic Hasting’s Clock has also been reinstated. The developers said that the project was delivered 14 days ahead of schedule and on budget. In total it took contractor ISG construction’s Bradford office 18 months to complete the building work.

Speaking of the importance of the development to Rotherham town centre, Mr Holme said: “I think it’s key really. It’s going to be a key anchor in bringing people back into the town centre.”

It is expected to create a mixture of 450 part-time and full-time jobs. Rotherham council put the site up for tender in 2007 and it was then that Mr Holme started speaking to Tesco.

Mr Holme said: “I first picked up the phone seven years ago to say, ‘Would you be interested in relocating to this site?’

“They were already in the Rotherham town centre and their existing site there wasn’t meeting their needs. I knew they were looking around.”

The Civic Site plot was bought from Rotherham Council in 2013 in a deal brokered by the Sheffield office of Knight Frank, the global real estate consultancy firm. Mark Thomas, corporate affairs manager for Tesco North, said: “We’re delighted to have completed the handover.”